Mean, Evil cat?

Question

My daughter posted a comment recently about a mean evil cat we have who has no reason to be mean. We raised her from 4 weeks old and gave her a lot of love and attention. Problem is , she is mean with EVERYONE. The other day my mother-in-law looked at her (didnt touch her, just LOOKED at her) and she litterally flew onto her and attacked her face. She always goes for the face. It is getting bad and dangerous. She is SO cute too! And SOMETIME she is sweet. And when she is sweet she is REALLY sweet but will turn on you in a heartbeat with no warning. I dont want to take her to the pound because no one in their right mind is going to adopt her. She will most likely be put to sleep. (maybe it is best but it is sad because she's do darn cute.)

Answer 1

This answer is going to be direct and to the point. I don't want to insult your or hurt your feelings in any way. But...... Sounds to me like this cat has some serious emotional and mental issues going on. If this cat is attacking out of the blue and going for faces. I wouldn't keep it around. If you have company and this cat attacks and the person gets hurt real bad. I'm sorry to say, you would be held responsible for all medical care to who ever it may be. When I was 16, my Mom had adopted a cat from the humane society. Just a few days later, he jumped on my face and dug me to no end. For no reason what so ever. This cat also attacked a neighbor also in the face. My folks had to pay the woman's medical bills. She got rid of it after it attacked twice. Don't keep this cat, it's dangerous and a risk now with every one the cat encounters. Medication, gel caps for the claws and veterinarian fees will cost you a small fortune. You have to do what is best for every one involved. I feel bad for you as you seem to love this cat. You also took very good care of it and gave it a nice home. But, please, don't risk it by keeping this cat in the house. Not if it's attacking the way it is. Good luck!

Answer 2

First don't kill the cat because it's mean. Get behavior modification. Also though i'm against declawing do it. Is the cat fixed? If not get it done also.
Play with the cat in a quiet room and give it LOTS of cuddle time. When you are not playing with it keep it in a kitty playpen. He could just be very insecure. When he isn't in the playpen keep a bottle of water around and use it with a firm 'no' when the cat is bad.
If his behavior doesn't improve with all those steps and he's not sick, or if he starts attacking you, then as much as i hate to say it you may have to make a hard choice. Use this only only as a very last resort after you've tried everything.
My cat just died early early this morning from sudden illness so i'm quite emotional right now. However at one point in time he did attack someone several months ago. We got him fixed and declawed. I kept him in a cat playpen when we were asleep or not home. I gave him extra attension.
He did come around and become more confident. Then this weekend even though he was terribly sick i was able to care for him and comfort him until the end. He never once even tried nipping me durring this time. There is hope, so don't give up give it time and patience and lots and lots and lots of love. He'll come around eventually.
my cat became extremly loyal and loving even when stressed out. This made loosing him even harder, but allowed us to stay close. Good luck and god bless.

Answer 3

It does sound as if you are in a really difficult situation - I hope I can help a little.

The first thing I want to ask you is, how much - if anything - do you know about the first four weeks of her life? This is crucial, I feel. If she was a rescue cat there is every chance that she was abused before she came to you. She may already have been emotionally scarred for life, unable without a huge amount of time, patience and love to trust completely.

Optimistically, it does sound as though you are part way there with gaining her trust so I would say to you, please, please, don't give up on her yet.

It could be any number of things that trigger her behaviour. I'm assuming you have had her checked out by the vet in case there's a physical problem, e.g. a sore that you touch inadvertently or something similar. Again, someone has suggested medication and that might be worth considering but before you do that why not checkout the Feliway Cat Pheromone Diffuser? I know people who have used it and the say it works well.

The thing with you mother in law could have been an association response, e.g. she was wearing a colour that your cat associates with being hit from the first four weeks of her life.

Check out her responses to different stimuli - noises, lights, scents, anything at all that may be affecting her. If you note a pattern of aggressive behaviour in response to particular stimuli, try to eliminate them from her environment if at all possible. It may be that they were something - or that they remind her of something - that was used to hurt her when she was small.

Clearly, whatever else you do, you need to take some precautions to avoid people getting hurt. I'm not an advocate of de-clawing because it is akin to amputation. However I don't see a problem with clipping her nails (well, maybe get the vet to clip them...) and/or using the Softpaws paw pads.

It may be that she will always be a cat that will sometimes fly off the handle seemingly for no reason. We have one like that. The good thing is, it does improve a bit with age! Our volatile cat, Stanzi, came to us as a 9-ish month old stray - just ran in through the cat flap one evening. We advertised but no one came forward to claim her so she has stayed with us ever since.

Stanzi will come to us on her terms only. She HATES being picked up. I think this is possibly because she was manhandled by small children when she was a kitten. She is incredibly affectionate most of the time but always has to be in control.

Only the other day she went for me. I cover my beading board with a mat when I'm not using it and Stanzi likes to lie on because she enjoys the texture of it; usually she gets off it straight away when I go to lift it up but this particular day she was NOT going to budge. I got the full hissing, spitting and clawing she-devil performance. I walked calmly out of the room and by the time I got back - with some food for her! - she was fine.

Last but not least - if you do decide you can't cope anymore with her, please take her to a shelter that is 100% no-kill.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Answer 4

Hi, I too have a Satan cat that I raised from a few hours old. My cat hated everyone but me. She would attack people and our other pets. This went on for over a year. She is just now calming down enough to hold or pet her. I say give your cat some time and show her love every chance you get. With a lot of love and a little luck she will be peacefully napping in your lap. Sounds like you want to keep your cat in your family and that's great. I'm sure she will calm down with age. Good luck.

Answer 5

Cat's have personalities a useless ringer for human beings do. She basically doesn't pick to be touched. I have a cat equivalent to yours. I have had her because she change right into a toddler (2005) and she or he hasn't ever loved being petted, touched, etc and she or he will chew you in case you try. If she is 1/2 asleep and also you puppy her, now and again she will purr and then chew you mid-purr! this is loopy. i latterly followed a kitten and she or he has gotten even worse because she does unlike him (she does unlike any cat). It sucks because i like cats and she or he's my toddler (and she or he's captivating) yet I basically keep the petting to a minimum. frequently a pair strokes is all she will somewhat tolerate. And BTW - this is always maximum perfect for cats to stay interior. they are going to stay longer lives that way. So this is sturdy hat you do not allow her out.

Answer 6

I had a kitty like that, too. I even named her Monster Cat from Hell. She was beautiful, but possessed. Sometimes I would rather hold a running chainsaw than to pet her. I started keeping a spray bottle of water around and would squirt her in the face when evil kitty appeared. But I would also talk softly to her, pet her, and brush her often. She actually settled down and became a sweet cat, with less and less appearances of the Monster Cat. She died not very long ago, and I miss her bunches. Keep trying with your cat. Be gentle and talk softly. And spray her with water when she misbehaves. She will learn. Good luck.

Answer 7

I like the idea off getting her declawed. Get her checked her out with the vet. My uncle has a evil cat (which I took care of when he was a kitten). It's so sad but my sister in law found him in a garbage can outside when the temp was 104 outside (imagine a closed garbage can, I'm sure it reached 10-20 degrees higher), she found 5 live kittens (3 were dead), and we adopted one. I think being in such high heat hurt his brain, because he is so mean, he is so nice and wants to cuddle and then turns evil and mean, poor kitty.
Maybe something happen before you got him, even 4 weeks something can happen.
Good luck I hope you find the best solution!

Answer 8

When you stare at a cat it feels threatened. If you ever watch cats before they start to fight you will notice that they stare at each other and then attack. So the cat took it as a sign that your mother-in-law was going to attack.
Try using Rescue Remedy in her water to help keep her calm or Feliway that you can spray. This cat is apparently stressed and insecure and needs some help to assure her that she is safe and will be alright. Once she starts feeling better she will not be attacking or mean.

Answer 9

Please DO NOT declaw your cat as a solution!!!
Please DO NOT euthanize your cat as a solution!!!

Speak to your vet about behavior modification techniques or possibly medications. To help in the immediate situation, purchase some Soft paws (caps for the cats nails) which will at least keep her from scratching people. The pouch comes with 40, so you have enough to cover front and hind claws twice, which should last about 4-6 weeks for each set.

Answer 10

We used to have an evil cat like that also!
She was soo evil that my older brother who is built like a truck was afraid of him... especially at night...
I, at one point, believed he was possessed by the devil!

Anyways, I think you should ask the vet for a solution.. rather than taking the kitty to the vet personally..
I only say this because the Vet might feel that it is necessary to put the cat down if the cat is really derranged...

Hope everything goes well...